Rangers 1 - 3 Chelsea Sat 06/08/11

A double from Daniel Sturridge and a second-half header from Florent Malouda gave Chelsea a 3-1 victory in today's glamour friendly at Ibrox Stadium.

Nikica Jelavic opened the scoring for Ally McCoist's men after just seven minutes with an excellent finish but the Stamford Bridge side were in front before the half hour mark and in the second period they added to that and Frank Lampard also saw a penalty saved by substitute keeper Neil Alexander.

A fantastic crowd of 47,379 turned up to watch this intriguing showdown between two of British football's great clubs and they weren't to be disappointed as it was an entertaining 90 minutes of football for both sets of supporters to enjoy.

From Rangers' perspective Kyle Bartley made a welcome return to the starting line-up.

And joining him in Ally McCoist's backline was Jordan McMillan who started the game at right back and put in an excellent display despite coming up against Salomon Kalou and the overlapping Ashley Cole.

With Madjid Bougherra moving to Qatar and Davie Weir out of action with a hamstring injury Bartley slotted straight back in at centre-half having secured a move back to Ibrox yesterday.

And also in the Gers backline were Kirk Broadfoot and Lee Wallace who retained his place at left-back with Sasa Papac recovering from a virus.

As part of a 4-1-4-1 formation man-of-the-match Kyle Hutton sat in between the defence and a midfield four of Naismith, Davis, Edu and Ortiz with Jelavic being utilised as a lone striker from kick off.

Back in July 2007 Nacho Novo and Filip Sebo were on target as the Light Blues recorded a memorable result against Jose Mourinho's star studded Blues.

And the early signs were good for the home side again this afternoon when, after a positive start, Jelavic bagged the opener.

Stand-in skipper Steven Davis made a trademark burst from midfield and he found Naismith spriniting at full pace down the right wing.

The Scotland star looked up before supplying a wonderful cross for the Gers no 9 who sent a downward header beyond Petr Cech to the delight of the Ibrox faithful.

The ease in which both Naismith and Jelavic found space will have been a concern for Villas-Boas but from there his team regrouped and looked determined to make up for their lapse in concentration.

On 22 minutes the Londoners were level and it was Lampard and Torres that were the architects.

They combined well to get in to the 18-yard box and when the ball dropped to Sturridge at the back post the England striker hammered the ball home from close range off the underside of the cross bar.

Just 60 seconds later and Torres again showed his threat when he unleashed a fierce drive, with no back lift, from 30 yards which bounced off McGregor's chest before he gathered at the second attempt.

But before the half hour mark Chelsea took the lead and it was a pool goal for the Light Blues to concede.

Kirk Broadfoot was caught in possession in the left back position by Sturridge who used his pace and power to get in to the box and he blasted the ball past the helpless McGregor at his near post.

The visitors were now flying and on 33 minutes a five yard burst from Torres took him away from Broadfoot and he found Kalou who brought out a great save from McGregor from 20 yards.

At half-time both managers made changes to their teams with Alexander, Perry, Fleck, Healy going on for Gers and Torres making way for Stamford Bridge talisman Didier Drogba.

On 57 minutes Juan Manuael Ortiz had a good chance to get his side on level terms but his left foot volley went high and wide.

And Chelsea scored their third goal of the game with 71 minutes on the Ibrox scoreboards.

Substitutes Anelka and Drogba combined on the right and the latter's dinked cross found Malouda who directed his header past the wrong-footed Alexander.

With a two goal lead now in place Chelsea started show their class and two minutes later referee Craig Thomson pointed to the penalty spot after Ortiz was adjudged to have fouled Drogba who was through on goal.

Frank Lampard stepped up but his effort lacked conviction and Alexander dived to his right to make a fine save.

Chelsea, however, continued to push forward at every given opportunity and Anelka had two identical left foot shots saved by Rangers' deputy after he had been played in by Drogba and then Yossi Benayoun.

At the death Ivorian legend Drogba then tried his luck with a one-step free-kick from 35 yards but his dipping effort was again straight at the keeper.

In the end no one could complain that Chelsea deserved their win against a Rangers side that was missing several key players including Dorin Goian, Weir, Steven Whittaker and Papac.

But it was great to see rising stars such as McMillan, Fleck, Perry, Hutton and Jamie Ness get the chance to compete against one of the strongest club sides in world football and they did their chances of getting more first-team action this season no harm at all.

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor (Alexander 45); McMillan, Bartley (Perry 45), Broadfoot, Wallace; Hutton; Naismith (Bendiksen 62), Davis (Ness 62), Edu (Fleck 45), Ortiz (Kerkar 82); Jelavic (Healey 45),

Subs:  Beattie, Little, Hemmings,

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira (Bosingwa 45), Terry, Alex (Kalas 86) , Cole; Obi Mikel (McEachran 43), Lampard (Chalobah 85), Ramires (Benayoun 71); Kalou (Malouda 59), Torres (Drogba 45), Sturridge ( Anelka 59),

Subs: Turnbull,

Ref: C Thompson

Man-of-the-match: Hutton

Attendance: 47,379